Syria

Arabic
Conflict

Fellow

Sinan Hatahet

Arabic
Economic Sanctions

Fellow

Ömer Özkizilcik

Nonresident Fellow, Syria Project

Arabic
English

Fellow

Arwa Damon

Nonresident Fellow, Syria Project

Arabic
Civil Society

Fellow

Diana Rayes

Arabic
Civil Society

Fellow

Amany Qaddour

Arabic
Civil Society

Fellow

Nadia Farra

Cybersecurity
Defense Technologies

Expert

Gregory Waters

Democratic Transitions
Middle East

Fellow

Marie Forestier

Arabic
French

Fellow

Samir Altaqi

Public Event
Mon, March 18, 2024 • 1:00 pm ET

Arabic
Middle East

Past events

The Syria Strategy Project: A public launch

Civil Society
Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity
Human Rights

Online Event
Mon, February 12, 2024 • 12:00 pm ET

One year on: Assessing the February 6th earthquake response in Syria

Civil Society
Economy & Business
Human Rights
International Organizations

Online Event
Fri, May 31, 2024 • 9:30 am ET

Serving communities with disability in conflict contexts

Civil Society
Conflict
Crisis Management
Human Rights

Learn more about the Middle East programs

Middle East Programs

Working with our allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

EXPLORE THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL’S MIDDLE EAST PROGRAMS

Content

MENASource

Feb 3, 2015

The Socioeconomics Behind the al-Nusra Bombings

By Mona Alami

Syria’s Nusra Front has claimed two bombings on Lebanese interests in the last month. The first targeted Lebanese Shia pilgrims in Damascus, Syria; the second was a suicide bombing that rocked Tripoli, Lebanon last January.

Middle East
Syria

Patriot missile system deployed in Turkey

NATOSource

Jan 28, 2015

Spanish Patriot Missiles in Turkey Now Operational

By NATO

Spanish troops joined NATO’s Patriot anti-ballistic missile deployment in Adana, Turkey on Monday (26 January 2015), replacing a Dutch unit which had been stationed there since January 2013.

Missile Defense
NATO

President Barack Obama at Osan Air Base, Nov. 19, 2009

NATOSource

Jan 27, 2015

After Years of Cuts, Obama Proposes Increasing US Defense Budget

By Marcus Weisgerber, Defense One

The Obama administration will propose a defense spending increase to levels not seen since 2012 when it sends Congress a $585 billion Pentagon budget request on Monday.

Afghanistan
Iraq

New Atlanticist

Jan 25, 2015

As the ISIS Wars Uproot Millions, Iraq’s Kurdish Region Faces a Flood of Human Misery

By Bina Hussein

Of 2 Million Refugees in Kurdish Zone, Most Languish Outside Camps, With Little or No Aid Amid the world attention focused on 3.8 million Syrians uprooted by the violent spread of the ISIS Islamist army, a little-noted part of that crisis is the flood of perhaps 2 million refugees from both Syria and Iraq into […]

Iraq
Syria

MENASource

Jan 24, 2015

What 2015 Holds for the Middle East

By Nabeel Khoury

In “The Arab Cold War Revisited,” published in Middle East Policy 2013, I suggested that Arab monarchies, authoritarian republics, and Islamist forces comprised the three main axes competing for power in the Middle East. I argued that the competition would likely continue until the more radical Islamists were defeated and the state systems went back […]

Iraq
Middle East

In the News

Jan 21, 2015

Saab: Hezbollah Hesitates?

By Bilal Saab

Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security Bilal Y. Saab cowrites for Foreign Affairs with Daniel Byman on the Syrian conflict and Hezbollah:

Middle East
Syria

MENASource

Jan 21, 2015

Syria: The Policy Cul-De-Sac

By Frederic C. Hof

US policy toward Syria is stalled in a cul-de-sac. It occupies the strategic low ground between an August 2011 presidential call for Bashar al-Assad to step aside, the June 2014 eruption of the Assad-conjured Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) into Iraq from Syria, and the administration’s resolute reluctance to act in accordance with a fundamental […]

Syria

MENASource

Jan 20, 2015

Moscow’s Syria Talks: Diplomacy that Destroys Hopes for Peace

By Bassam Barabandi

The White House recently held meetings to decide on whether to participate in Russian plans for fresh Syria peace talks in Moscow. Moscow has described these talks in vague terms—as “consultations and preparatory contact” between the “constructive opposition and the Syrian Government.”

Syria

In the News

Jan 20, 2015

Saab: “This Is a New Hezbollah”

By Bilal Saab

International Business Times quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security Bilal Y. Saab on the recent raid Israel carried out on senior Hezbollah figures:

Middle East
Syria

MENASource

Jan 16, 2015

Yemen and Syria: Making the Same Mistakes Twice

By Danya Greenfield and Faysal Itani

The recent statement from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen claiming responsibility for directing the brutal Paris attack should refocus some attention on the shortsighted approach of current US counterterrorism efforts across the region.

Syria
Yemen

Experts

Fellow

Colin Brooks

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Iran Middle East

Fellow

Anthony J. Ruggiero

Forward Defense Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

Arms Control Defense Policy

Fellow

Marie Forestier

Arabic French

Fellow

Ibrahim Al-Assil

Distinguished Fellow, Transatlantic Project

Arabic Conflict

Expert

Jon Wilks

Arabic Crisis Management

Fellow

Beth Van Schaack

Distinguished Fellow